Austrian GP: Why Red Bull face a big home race weekend with car upgrades for Max Verstappen, Isak Hajjar expected | F1 News

Red Bull head home to the picturesque Styrian mountains this weekend with the Austrian Grand Prix around their proprietary track, as always, set to mark an important milestone in their season.

They will return to the famous Red Bull Ring with Max Verstappen, a four-time winner of the race, at the last eight attempts, although carrying long odds to win this time.

After seven races of the sport’s new rules era, the former world champions sit fourth in the constructors’ championship with 89 points – their lowest total this season since 2015.

Red Bull will introduce a major upgrade to their RB22 for Austria in what could be crunch time for a decision from their star driver on his F1 future, after team boss Laurent Mackies had a final “reality check” in Barcelona, ​​ahead of the busy August summer break.

‘Clear areas where we need to improve’ – Where are the Red Bulls contenders?

Although much of the talk centered on Red Bull in Spain two weeks ago as they had just been given the benchmark engine on the grid by the FIA ​​- a ranking team, in their first year as an engine manufacturer, disputed and spoke to the governing body for clarification – their weekend on track has so far been similar to others at the 026 circuit.

Whereas slow-paced Monaco – where Verstappen qualified on the front row – and stop-start Montreal – where the Dutchman finished on the podium – require a certain power from a car, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is all about aerodynamics and high-speed cornering performance.

And although a tough start in practice on Friday in Spain was followed by an improved display in qualifying, when Verstappen lapped convincingly to within 0.3s of Mercedes’ Jorge Russell’s pole-winning pace, the distance of the 66-lap race here underlined that the RB22’s weaknesses still remain after the start of the season.

Employing the same three-stop strategy as race winner Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen finished fourth, 40 seconds behind the Ferrari driver, and Isak Hajjar finished a lapped sixth after the Frenchman was compromised by the car’s latest poor race start of the afternoon.

“The race painted an accurate picture of where we are with our current package on this type of track,” said team chief Mackies afterwards.

“What we saw (in the race) reflected the situation in qualifying, in that we could have fought with the other top teams but we didn’t have the pace to challenge for the win today. To do that, we still need to find four to five tenths.”

Verstappen said they were “too slow” compared to the three teams ahead.

“(There are) clear areas where we need to improve,” Verstappen said.

“The car is lacking in some places but, at the same time, tire management we are still a bit behind when you have high-strength tracks.”

Hajjar, meanwhile, said his drop from sixth to 14th on the first lap at Barcelona highlighted another area of ​​concern.

“We have to work on our starts because it’s not possible to continue like this every race weekend,” said Hazor. “It’s really something we need to work on because everyone has made progress, but I’ve fallen behind. The process is too difficult, the window is too short.”

Will Austria upgrade Red Bull back into contention?

Hence the company’s own name, Red Bull to the track bearing the ring.

Although not as fast or aerodynamically demanding as Barcelona, ​​the short Austrian circuit still has a mix of corner speed and changes of direction to provide a good challenge for car and driver.

A strong performance on home soil is always important for Red Bull, and so they will arrive at the weekend with what is expected to be their biggest car upgrade package since the Miami Grand Prix at the start of May.

While the updates will inevitably include more aerodynamic revisions in the pursuit of more downforce and more compliant handling for their two drivers, it’s also crucially set to help resolve season-long weight issues to get the RB22 towards the minimum 768kg limit.

Mackies admitted after the Barcelona race that while the Austrians “will not be enough alone” to close all their deficits at the front, he is hopeful that work will help them close out Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.

“We know we’re going to need some more steps but the important thing is that we stay on this continuous, closing-the-gap trajectory that we’ve been on since the post-Japan period,” Mekis said.

“We need to get closer so that we’re no longer talking about four-tenths, but hopefully about less.”

When will Verstappen decide his F1 future?

Against the background of Red Bull’s quest for more performance, there is constant uncertainty over what their four-time world champion driver will do after this season.

Verstappen’s Red Bull deal runs until the end of 2028, although it has long been an open secret that the contract, originally re-signed in March 2022, has an exit clause on the way.

For 2026, the stipulation means that if Verstappen is outside the top two positions in the drivers’ championship at the August summer break, he will be free for 2027.

The 28-year-old is currently seventh in the standings and 50 points behind second-placed Hamilton, so he is unlikely to be in such a top-two position when F1 breaks for the summer after the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 26. That would theoretically put the break clause into action, though Bullap said he never wanted to give in to public pressure. That he ideally wants to end his career with them.

Apart from the point of agreement, there are wide unanswered questions about whether Verstappen even wants to continue in F1 at all.

He expressed his displeasure with the new-for-2026 engine regulations several times in the early months of the year, although his The position of a potential walk-away seems to have softened As the sport deals with a 60-40 power split and reducing electric dependency through phased changes in rules by 2028.

On the Red Bull front, the Dutchman and his manager jetted down to Austria for a meeting with members of Red Bull’s hierarchy before flying to Barcelona for the final race. When questioned at a media day in Spain, Verstappen was tight-lipped about the details and purpose of the meeting, saying only that “if there’s anything new about what I’m doing, I’ll let you know”.

Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, offered more on the situation in quotes attributed to him by the German Build Last week: “We have a contract until 2028,” Vermeulen was quoted as saying, “Of course, there’s a release clause, always there. But we’ve never exercised one.

“On the contrary. We have always been and will be loyal. We want to continue our journey with Red Bull and Max wants to finish his career here – but of course with a chance to win.”

He added: “We want a quick decision so everyone knows where they stand. It can be done before the summer break.”

As Verstappen himself has long suggested that the car’s performance and chances of winning will ultimately drive where he drives, a strong move from Red Bull with their Austrian upgrade can surely only help the team’s cause.

Formula 1’s European season continues this weekend with the Austrian Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime